Ventilated shoe



(No Moduel.) K

l M. HILGBRT.

`VENTILATED SHGE.

Patented Sept. 22

@a SEWON) y citizen of the United MATHEW HILGERT, OF SALT LAKE CITY,UTAH.

VENTILATED SHOE.

SPECIFICATION forming' part of Letters Patent No. 568,068, datedSeptember 22, 1896. Application iiled February 9, 1895. Serial No.5371810. (No model.)

To all whom t may cm1/ocra,.-

Be it known that I, MATHEW HILGERT, a States, residing at Salt LakeCity, in the county of Salt Lake and Territory ot' Utah, have invented anew and useful Ventilated Shoe, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to shoes and boots1 and has for its object toprovide means for Ventilating and causing a circulation of air in thesole and beneath the foot of the wearer in order to prevent overheating,perspiration,

'and the evils resulting therefrom, someof those evils being theproduction of corns, bunions, callousness, general soreness, weariness,the.

A further object of my invention is to areV range a device of the classnamed in the sole of a shoe or boot without weakening or impairing thedurability thereof.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear in thefollowing description', and the novel features thereof will beparticularly pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal `vertical section of a shoeor boot provided with a Ventilating device constructed in accordancewith my invention. Fig. 2 is plan view, partly broken away, of the soleof the shoe or boot.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in both thefigures of the drawings.

In carrying out my invention I form an air chamber or cavity 1 in theseat of the heel 2 of the shoe or boot, the iioor of said chamber orcavity being in orabovethe plane of the upper surface of the heelproper, whereby the strength and durability of the heel,l are equal tothose of the shoe or boot not provided with the device embodying myinvention. Said chamber or cavity may be of any desired depth, accordingto the requirements, the depth being regulated by the thickness of afalse insole 3, which is arranged between the outer sole 4 and the usualinsole 5, and

in which false insole is cut an opening to form said chamber orcavity 1. The lining Gis arranged upon the insole as in the usualconstruction. Communicating with the said chamber or cavity 1 is achannel?, formed by cutting a slot in the insole 3, and which extendslongitudinally of the shoe or boot in the inner layer of the sole, andthe insole 5 is provided at the ball -or adjacent to the toeA of theshoe or boot with ports 8, which regis# ter with similar openings 9 inthe lining 6. This channel 7 may be provided with any desired number ofbranches 10, having ports l1,

Valso registering with openings 12 in the 1ining, said branch channels10 being also formed by cutting slots in the insole 3.

The insole extends over the chamber or cavity at the heel of the shoe orboot, and thereby closes the top of the same, whereby the only inlet toand outlet from said chamber or cavity is through the channel 7 and itsports, as above described, and arranged in the chamber or cavity andresting at its lower end upon the floor thereof is a spring 13,preferably of spiral construction, with its reduced upper end in contactwith the under surface of the portion of the insole which covers thechamber or cavity. The upward pressure of this spring bulges or conveXesthe contiguous portion of the insole, or the portion which covers thechamber or cavity, and which for convenience l will herein after termthe flexible cover of the chamber, this portion of the insole whichforms the cover being represented by the numeral 14.

The portion 14 of the insole 5 is quite an important feature of theinvention, and at this point it will be observed that the portion 14 ofthe insole is the heel portion thereof and is cut of a greater size thanthe interior of the boot or shoe at the counter thereof, so that whenfitted in place within the boot or shoe above the spring 13 it willprovide a loose normally-(lished iieXible imperforate cover portion forthe chamber or cavity 1, and thereby forms an air-bulb which is operatedby the heel of the wearer during the act of walking.

This being the construction of the device, it will be seen that inoperation the pressure of the heel of the wearer upon the cover of thechamber or cavity depresses said cover against the tension of the spring13, and thus forces air, which is contained in the chamber or cavity,through the channel 7 and its branches and discharges the same at thefore IOO part of the shoe or boot beneath the ball and toes of the foot,and as the ports 8 and 11 in the channel and branches are made small indiameter at the rear ends of the series and increase in size toward thetoe of the shoe it will be seen that a portion of the air contained inthe chamber will be discharged through each of the ports.

Vhen the foot of the wearer is raised, as in swinging the foot which istoward the rear forward in the act of taking an advance step, the springelevates the cover I4 of the chamber or cavity, thus holding it incontact with the heel of the foot, and this upward movement of the coverproduces a partial vacuum in the chamber or cavity and causes an inwarddraft of air from the fore part of the shoe or boot through the channelto the chamber, the air thus drawn in being again expelled when the heelof the wearer is again depressed. Therefore an alternate depression andelevation of the cover of the air chamber or cavity is caused duringwalking, thus alternately forcing the air from the chamber to the toe of'the shoe or boot and drawing it from the toe into the chamber, and thiscontinuous circulation of the air within the shoe or boot has the effectof cooling the foot, and by preventing perspiration and the evils suchas are above enumerated also adding to the durability of the materialforming the shoe or boot by avoiding the hardening and con sequentbreaking thereof. Furthermore, the construction described provides acushion to relieve the jar upon the foot in placing the heel upon theground or floor as in taking a forward step.

The channel and its branches may be constructed of any suitable kind ofmetal or of wood or similar material, the object being to provide anunobstructed passage from the airchamber at the heel of the shoe or bootto the toe or front portion of the same in order that the air contained.in the shoe or boot may be forced backward and forward beneath the soleof the foot to prevent overheating.

Inasmuch as air is not taken from the outside of the shoe or boot, butis simply circulated therein, the temperature of the foot is not loweredby a draft of cold air, and in addition to this the fact that thechamber and the communicating channels have no eXterior outlets preventsthe introduction of dust or water to the interior of the shoe or boot.

In the above-described construction only one spring is-shown in thecavity of the heel, but in practice a plurality thereof may be employed,and various other changes in the form, proportion, and the minor detailsof construction may be resorted to Without departing from the spirit orsacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

Having described my invention, I claim- In a boot or shoe, a laminatedinsole provided at the heel thereof with a circular opening, and alsohaving an air-circulating slot communicating with such opening, theupper portion of the insole being provided near the front end with anopening communicating with the circulating-slot, said upper portion ofthe insole being further provided with an enlarged heel portion forminga loose flexible imperforate cover portion for the circular opening inthe insole, and a spring supported within the insole under the enlargedheel portion thereof to normally dish and elevate said heel portion ofthe insole to provide an air-bulb operated by the heel of the wearerduring the act of walking, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

MATHEW HILGERT. Vitnesses:

THos. RAINE, L. C. PEARsE.

